Disk type recording devices, whether magnetic, magneto resistive or optical types, are high precision devices requiring the precise location and support of parts which interact in the positioning of a transducer head for recording or reading purposes. The recording devices are fabricated and assembled in a clean environment and require a clean environment in which to function.
Fabrication techniques usually involve the fabrication of individual parts, and in some instances pieces of parts, and thereafter their assembly in a clean environment upon a chassis, such as a base or support plate. The use of fasteners, such as screws, rivets, swaged connections, etc., or adhesives, to join numerous parts, requires extreme care that location errors due to fabrication tolerances do no occur.
The application of fasteners or adhesives to such parts and the use of tools on the fasteners, can damage the fasteners and/or the parts, or cause their mislocation. Particles from part and/or fastener damage, or adhesive contamination, may contaminate the clean environment and may be the cause of poor yields or the malfunction of the recording device at a later date.
Fabrication and design techniques for improving recording devices with respect to performance, reliability, longevity and cost reduction have been under investigation since their introduction. Accuracy in recording and playback, or readback, and, in some applications, together with increasing recording density, have placed increasing and unyielding demands on precision in product fabrication using conventional assembly techniques.